Why the daiquiri is the one cocktail everyone should master

When you hear the word daiquiri, your mind might immediately
wander to thoughts of cruise ships and all-inclusive resorts
south of the border. This is wrong and offensive.

The humble daiquiri has been corrupted by these charlatans, who
have transformed it into something unrecognizable. It's time to
dispel the myth of the daiquiri, and raise it to its rightful
place as the king of cocktails.

The daiquiri actually has quite a storied history dating back to
the 1890s.

Though no one can confirm where it actually came from, a commonly
accepted history is as follows:

An American mining engineer named Jennings Cox is credited with
creating and popularizing the drink while working in Cuba,
according to Bloomberg. It was named after a nearby beach
town with the same name.

It gained popularity in the 1940s after rum became more
fashionable and other liquor was harder to come by. In 1948, it
was immortalized in "The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks," an
influential book that shaped modern cocktail culture in a major
way. Author David A. Embury listed it as one of the
"six basic cocktails." While some on the list — like the
Jack Rose and sidecar — have fallen a bit out of favor, the
Manhattan, martini, and old-fashioned have stood the test of
time. So I submit the daiquiri has, too.

When Cox brought his drink to America, it became a favorite of
the Army & Navy Club in Washington, DC, where the
lounge has since been
renamed in honor of the drink. It was a noted favorite of
President John F. Kennedy, who named it one of his favorite
before-dinner drinks. It was also a favorite of macho
author Ernest Hemingway, who subbed sugar for maraschino liqueur
and grapefruit juice.

So, the daiquiri has a pretty storied history. Kind of makes you
a bit embarrassed to think they only came frozen with strawberry
flavoring, doesn't it?

It also has a pretty masculine history — this clearly is a unisex
cocktail. The daiquiri is too simple to really be gendered.
It's just lime juice, simple syrup, and rum. That's it,
and that's all.

Pour them into a shaker in the correct amounts with some ice,
move it up and down a few times, and pour it into a glass.
Garnish with lime if you're feeling fancy, and that's it. The
perfect cocktail. It's sour, a little bit sweet, and, if you made
it right, delicious.

That said, it's hard to really mess up. If you're off on any of
the ingredients, it'll still taste pretty good. It's the perfect
simple but still elevated cocktail to make at home to impress
someone without actually doing anything all that impressive.

The International Bartenders Association lists it as one of
their "unforgettable" cocktails.